Alexander Graham Bell Research

Presenting the Telephone (Slide 6)

On 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania Alexander Graham Bell presented the telephone to the world.

Corn mill (Slide 2)

When Alexander Graham Bell was younger he got lost in a cornfield and tried to listen to the corn grow. He couldn't hear the corn grow, but became interested in sound after that.

United States Library of Congress Manuscript Division (Slide 9)

A lot of Alexander's writings, notebooks, papers, and other documents are at the United Library of Congress Manuscript Division.

'bel' (Slide 7)

Alexander Graham Bell created a unit of sound volume that was later called the 'bel' in his honor. He created the 'bel' so that the audiometer would have a unit of sound volume to be measured in. Sound is usually measured in decibels. Alexander Graham Bell's audiometer is measured in 'bels' and every amplifier, satellite dish, and radio transmission is measured in decibels.

Metal Detector (Slide 7)

Alexander Graham Bell created the metal detector in 1881. He created it to try to find the bullet that was in President Garfield's body. The first time that Alexander Graham Bell tried using the metal detector to find President Garfield's bullet he failed. Alexander Graham Bell worked on making a second design for the metal detector. The second metal detector had a metal probe that had to be sent through the patient's body, but the results were more accurate. The metal detector found that the bullet was near President Garfield's spine. After this the doctors did surgery on President Garfield, but the surgery was unsuccessful because the doctors couldn't find the bullet. The surgery also created a twenty inch gash in the president's liver. President Garfield died on September 19th. Later on, Alexander Graham Bell found out that there was nothing wrong with the detector, but President Garfield had laid on a bed that had metal springs and the metal springs overpowered the metal detector and had hid the bullet. Unfortunately, the press and others were upset at Alexander Graham Bell for not being able to save the president's life. Doctors liked the second metal detector that Alexander Graham Bell created and used it in operating rooms.

Hydrome (Slide 7)

Alexander Graham Bell developed the hydrodome in 1917. The hydrodome was a boat that went faster than 113 km/h. It was the world's fastest boat for many years.

Death/Funeral (Slide 9)

Alexander Graham Bell died when he was seventy five years old on August 2, 1922 at his home in Nova Scotia. He died from anemia and diabetes. His funeral was on August 4rth and all of the telephones in North America were silent for one minute that day to honor Alexander Graham Bell. There were more than 10 million telephones in North America during that time.

Law Suits (Slide 6)

Alexander Graham Bell had many law suits against him. People accused Alexander of bribing government officials, forgery, lying in court, stealing other people's work, especially Philip Reis who was a German inventor that developed a system that would send tones down an electric wire in 1860, etc. Alexander Graham Bell won all of the law suits that were against him.

Family (Slide 2)

Alexander Graham Bell had two brothers named Melville who was older and Edward who was younger. Alexander's two brothers died young from tuberculosis. He lived with his dad and deaf mom. Alexander Graham Bell's grandfather definitely made an impact in Alexander Graham Bell's life too.

Helen Keller (Slide 5)

Alexander Graham Bell helped find a teacher for Helen Keller and somebody to pay for Helen Keller's education.

Photophone (Slide 7)

Alexander Graham Bell invented the photophone in 1880. The photophone sent the human voice over wavelengths of light. This was the world's first wireless communication device.

Conclusion (Slide 9)

Alexander Graham Bell is a very important inventor in history. He won the French Volta Prize and many people still remember him today.

Thesis (Slide 1)

Alexander Graham Bell made an important impact in people's lives by educating them and made important inventions that still benefit people today.

Resource Shortages (Slide 8)

Alexander Graham Bell wanted to have fresh water and clean water shortages. Alexander Graham Bell thought about climatic effects of methane gas.

Weston House Academy (Slide 5)

Alexander Graham Bell was a music and elocution teacher at Weston House Academy. Alexander Graham Bell started teaching at Weston House Academy on August, 1863.

Introduction (Slide 1)

Alexander Graham Bell was a very hardworking inventor. His family influenced him a lot and later Alexander Graham Bell came up with many inventions that would benefit the whole world, including the telephone.

Von Helmholtz (Slide 6)

Alexander Graham Bell was looking at and reading something by Von Helmholtz in German. Alexander Graham Bell wasn't fluent in German and misread it thinking that Von Helmholtz had transmitted vowel sounds over telegraph wires. This influenced Alexander Graham Bell to create the telephone.

Royal High School ( Slide 4)

Alexander Graham Bell went to Royal Highschool for a little while, but dropped out when he was 15 due to bad grades.

Mother (Slide 3)

Alexander Graham Bell's mother was deaf, and that inspired him to create an easier way to communicate with the deaf. Alexander put his head close to his mother's forehead instead of talking to her through a rubber tube like most people did back then.

Birth (Slide 2)

Alexander was born in Scotland on March 3,1847.

Father (Slide 3)

Alexander's father, Professor Bell also influenced him. When Alexander Graham Bell was younger he played the piano, and disliked school. His father emphasized the importance of scientific subjects and wanted Alexander to have a career in speech and sound.

Environmentalist Inventions (Slide 8)

As a result, Alexander Graham Bell invented and designed things that benefited the environment such as composting toilets, and took clean water from the Earth's atmosphere, invented water-recycling, water-recovery systems, and water-desalination systems. Alexander Graham Bell thought about using solar panels to heat up a home too.

Wheat Husker (Slide 7)

In 1859, Alexander Graham Bell and his brother Melly played in Herdman's grain mill. Herdman got mad at them for making a mess at the mill and Alexander Graham Bell thinks that Herdman said, "Why don't you do something useful? Figure out how to remove husks from this wheat. Now that would be useful!" Melly and Alexander Graham Bell kept trying to make a machine that would do this. They finally made one by attaching rough, short-bristled brushes to a vat with a rotating paddle wheel.

Grandfather (Slide 3)

In 1863, before Alexander's fifteenth birthday, his father sent him to Alexander's grandfather's house for a year. There Alexander Graham Bell was forced to study the science of speech and sound and read dozens of books about sound. Alexander wasn't allowed to play the piano anymore.

University of London ( Slide 4)

In 1868, Alexander Graham Bell studied anatomy and physiology at the University of London, but didn't study there as long as he originally planned because he and his family moved to Canada in 1870 after Alexander's two brothers died of tuberculosis.

Telephone Service (Slide 6)

In 1877 Alexander Graham Bell with the help of others started the Bell Telephone Company. Later this company became the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).

Audiometer (Slide 7)

In 1879, Alexander Graham Bell used ideas from his discarded harmonic telegraph design to create a machine that could send multiple different tones to a person's ear when they held a small speaker to their ear. Alexander Graham Bell kept track of how well that person could hear the different tones and then kept a profile of that person's hearing. Many doctors and modern tests use the audiometer.

French Volta Prize (Slide 9)

In 1880 Alexander Graham Bell won the French Volta Prize as an award for his scientific inventions. This prize gave Alexander Graham Bell 10,000 dollars. Alexander Graham Bell used this money to buy the Volta Laboratory in Washington. This was bigger than Alexander Graham Bell's old laboratory.

University of Edinburgh (Slide 4)

In the fall of 1864, Alexander Graham Bell took advanced classes in Latin, Greek, and physics at the University of Edinburgh. Alexander Graham Bell also studied human anatomy.

School of Vocal Physiology (Slide 5)

In the fall of 1872, after Alexander Graham Bell quit his job as a teacher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he started the School of Vocal Physiology. Alexander Graham Bell's focus of the school was to fix stuttering. George Sanders was one of Alexander's first clients. George couldn't read yet because he was only 5. As a result Alexander created what was known to be called a magic glove, for George to wear. Alexander Graham Bell printed the 26 letters, to form words so he would be able to communicate.

First Telephone Message (Slide 6)

The first telephone message was sent by accident on March 10, 1867. Alexander Graham Bell was in a room with his transmitter and Watson, who helped Alexander with his inventions was in another room with a receiver. After Alexander Graham Bell spilled acid on himself, he spoke into the transmitter saying, " Mr. Watson-------come here------I want to see you." Watson heard the message over the wires and came quickly.

Museum (Slide 9)

There is an Alexander Graham Bell museum located inside his home and some of Alexander Graham Bell's original inventions are in the museum. The Canadian government owns the museum.

Competition (Slide 6)

Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray were competing with Alexander Graham Bell to try to create the telephone first. Alexander Graham Bell created the telephone in 1879, when he was 29 years old. Later on Alexander Graham Bell received the patent which meant that he was the only one that was allowed to create the telephones for the next 19 years.